*4.2.6 Real estate crowdfunding*

The real estate crowdfunding is a type of collective loan for real estate investments. It allows investors, in exchange for a return on capital, to participate in the financing of a real estate project in a residential or commercial environment, such as the purchase of a property to be used for income, the restructuring of a property or the development of a greenfield project.

The real estate crowdfunding is a model attributable, on the basis of the currently operating portals, to equity crowdfunding or social lending. In the first case, the capital financed is divided into two components: equity and debt. Equity accounts for 65–70% of the investment and is divided as follows: 25–30% for the entrepreneur and 40% for the online 'crowd.' The remaining 30–35% of the amount is disbursed by a bank (debt) in the form of a loan, thus reducing the overall risk of the transaction. In the second case, that is, when the real estate crowdfunding uses social lending, the functioning mechanism is similar to that of this form of collective financing.

The real estate crowdfunding allows to solve some problems of the real estate investment, such as the following:


**227**

*Crowdfunding: The Case of Italy*

ment opportunity in Milan.

*4.2.7 Invoice trading*

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90940*

of the same through asset-backed securities.

**5. Benefits and risks**

better terms.

affect the borrower and investors.

In Italy, Walliance is the only Italian platform for equity crowdfunding specifically dedicated to real estate, while Housers is an online real estate crowdfunding platform, created and launched in Spain in 2015 and landed in Italy with an invest-

The invoice trading allows businesses to sell individual invoices in order to free up cash, to an online community of investors. It replaces the traditional "invoice discounting" of the bank to support working capital. Investors advance the invoice amount, net of the required remuneration. The investors' remuneration is given by the difference between the liquidation value of the invoice and the relative purchase price [18]. The invoice trading takes place online through the platforms and the business model requires that the company interested to an invoice transfer submit the request to an invoice trading platform. The portal evaluates the proposals received on the basis of some indicators (such as creditworthiness) relating to all the operators involved and assigns a rating crossing the available data with those present in the databases of some providers such as Modefinance or Cerved Rating Agency.

Once accepted, the invoice is published on the invoice trading platform.

guarantees and without reporting to the Central Risk Office.

There are three different buying mechanisms for investors, such as: upward bidding, competitive bidding or direct purchase by the platforms and securitization

In general, SMEs with difficulties in accessing the traditional banking channel resort to invoice trading. The SMEs use the advantages of the invoice trading, such as the speed with which the liquidity is paid to finance the working capital, without

In Italy, the potential market of invoice trading exceeds 400 billion Euros.

The crowdfunding provides various indirect and non-financial benefits, too. First of all, it allows to understand if the entrepreneurial, social or cultural idea can be appreciated and shared by third parties. In fact, if the crowd is pushed to contribute in the first phase of the project, this means that the market will be well inclined to support it even later. Access to the crowd, which includes subjects with specific skills, is useful for obtaining professional feedback at low cost, too.

Furthermore, if it is evident that the project is supported on a large scale and the risk associated with the possible use of capital reduced, there will be greater chances that informal banks or investors (angel investors) will grant loans additional on

The crowdfunding can be used as a powerful marketing tool: it puts the attention of investors and potential customers on an innovative project even before it is implemented or concluded. Usually, the entrepreneur, or more generally the proposer, should start a campaign aimed to publicize the new service or product as best as possible, in order to reach a certain level of market interest in conjunction with the launch. In this way, it is possible to focus the attention of consumers in a

However, crowdfunding is not easy to implement, as it requires a long and thorough preparatory process in order to minimize the risks that may negatively

First of all, it is necessary to consider the hypothesis in which the objective is not fully achieved. In the case of the "all-or-nothing" model, failure to reach the set

completely innovative way, whose main purpose is to raise capital.

#### *Crowdfunding: The Case of Italy DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90940*

In Italy, Walliance is the only Italian platform for equity crowdfunding specifically dedicated to real estate, while Housers is an online real estate crowdfunding platform, created and launched in Spain in 2015 and landed in Italy with an investment opportunity in Milan.

## *4.2.7 Invoice trading*

*Banking and Finance*

energy investment.

on WeAreStarting.

campaigns.

*4.2.5 Recurring crowdfunding*

financing for their work).

*4.2.6 Real estate crowdfunding*

or the development of a greenfield project.

investment, such as the following:

secondary market

energy produced through the project itself. The lending projects are differentiated according to the type of debt instrument offered (short- and long-term debt, mutual fund). In equity or community share projects, investors acquire shares in companies or cooperatives active in the production of clean energy, thus benefiting from dividends issued based on the economic performance of the underlying

An Italian example of energy social lending is Edison Crowd, while an Italian

equity-based company is Ecomill, which will soon be operational. There are examples of energy crowdfunding campaigns, too, such as some of those activated

Recurring crowdfunding is a type of fundraising that is donation-based or reward-based, which does not expire, unlike normal bottom-up funding

In particular, in recurring crowdfunding, patrons contribute a recurring amount of money, either on a specific time period (like every month) or every time the creator makes something new (a new song, a new album, a new video, etc.). Therefore, it is a model adopted especially for editorial or artistic projects (ideal for managing subscriptions and for new content creators such as bloggers, freelancers, YouTubers, documentarians, journalists and artists who can generate a monthly

In Italy, this service was launched, for the first time, on 6 March 2018 by Produzioni dal Basso along the lines of the American platforms Patreon and Drip.

The real estate crowdfunding is a type of collective loan for real estate investments. It allows investors, in exchange for a return on capital, to participate in the financing of a real estate project in a residential or commercial environment, such as the purchase of a property to be used for income, the restructuring of a property

The real estate crowdfunding is a model attributable, on the basis of the currently

operating portals, to equity crowdfunding or social lending. In the first case, the capital financed is divided into two components: equity and debt. Equity accounts for 65–70% of the investment and is divided as follows: 25–30% for the entrepreneur and 40% for the online 'crowd.' The remaining 30–35% of the amount is disbursed by a bank (debt) in the form of a loan, thus reducing the overall risk of the transaction. In the second case, that is, when the real estate crowdfunding uses social lending, the

functioning mechanism is similar to that of this form of collective financing.

• The delegation of property management to the promoters

The real estate crowdfunding allows to solve some problems of the real estate

• The financing of a real estate project (even with low amounts of money) that allows to diversify the investment, allocating the capital in several real estate projects, in different geographical areas and on different types of properties

• The possible increase in the liquidity of investments, when the platforms of crowdfunding real estate allow to exchange their investment shares on a

**226**

The invoice trading allows businesses to sell individual invoices in order to free up cash, to an online community of investors. It replaces the traditional "invoice discounting" of the bank to support working capital. Investors advance the invoice amount, net of the required remuneration. The investors' remuneration is given by the difference between the liquidation value of the invoice and the relative purchase price [18].

The invoice trading takes place online through the platforms and the business model requires that the company interested to an invoice transfer submit the request to an invoice trading platform. The portal evaluates the proposals received on the basis of some indicators (such as creditworthiness) relating to all the operators involved and assigns a rating crossing the available data with those present in the databases of some providers such as Modefinance or Cerved Rating Agency. Once accepted, the invoice is published on the invoice trading platform.

There are three different buying mechanisms for investors, such as: upward bidding, competitive bidding or direct purchase by the platforms and securitization of the same through asset-backed securities.

In general, SMEs with difficulties in accessing the traditional banking channel resort to invoice trading. The SMEs use the advantages of the invoice trading, such as the speed with which the liquidity is paid to finance the working capital, without guarantees and without reporting to the Central Risk Office.

In Italy, the potential market of invoice trading exceeds 400 billion Euros.
